Drive Safely this Xmas !

[locky801]

put driver education in with the cirriculum i say

personally I think it needs to go further. Set up a driver academy and make it compulsory for all those getting drivers licences regardless of age/sex. Two weeks of lectures and learning road rules followed by an extensive practical driving assessment over a few weeks, driving in all sorts of conditions (weather/road surfaces/country/city). Throw all the graphic videos you like at these people but have them attend Road Crashes to see the carnage caused first hand as well.
Staffing of such an establishment would obviously be a problem but you could obviously look at having Police/Paramedics/Firies all involved including perhaps retired members from those departments to assist as well.

Costing: who cares, how much is a human life worth. If Govt's can fork out 45 million for a bloody soccer tournament, this should be quite easily be able to be afforded.

Know it will probably never happen but just my thoughts on extending the very little education todays kids are getting in driver education

[Ian]

put driver education in with the cirriculum i say

personally I think it needs to go further. Set up a driver academy and make it compulsory for all those getting drivers licences regardless of age/sex.

We had one.............Oaklands Park, that will soon be a nice new housing estate!!

[locky801]

put driver education in with the cirriculum i say

personally I think it needs to go further. Set up a driver academy and make it compulsory for all those getting drivers licences regardless of age/sex.

We had one.............Oaklands Park, that will soon be a nice new housing estate!!

Yes aware of that but that wasnt a full on academy as such, again however something that should have remained to assist in driver education

[Strawb]

Without lessons most kids learn from their parents and they pick up bad habits from them. Problem is parents will tell their kids not to drive like they do but as most kids think well if mum and dad can do it so can I.
Best drivers on the road are truck drivers. I like seeing the ones with a phone to one ear, smoke and Iced Coffee in the other hand and still driving like a pro.

[Sturtman]

put driver education in with the cirriculum i say

personally I think it needs to go further. Set up a driver academy and make it compulsory for all those getting drivers licences regardless of age/sex. Two weeks of lectures and learning road rules followed by an extensive practical driving assessment over a few weeks, driving in all sorts of conditions (weather/road surfaces/country/city). Throw all the graphic videos you like at these people but have them attend Road Crashes to see the carnage caused first hand as well.
Staffing of such an establishment would obviously be a problem but you could obviously look at having Police/Paramedics/Firies all involved including perhaps retired members from those departments to assist as well.

Costing: who cares, how much is a human life worth. If Govt's can fork out 45 million for a bloody soccer tournament, this should be quite easily be able to be afforded.

Know it will probably never happen but just my thoughts on extending the very little education todays kids are getting in driver education

Can't see an academy making much difference. Most of the young kids being killed or seriously injured are driving well above the speed limit or under the influence of alcohol, it isnt basic driving errors causing the crashes. I think there needs to be a limit on the number of passengers a P plate driver can carry to stop them having a car full of mates and feeling the need to show off and drive stupidly.

[Drop Bear]

Seems you can't teach common sense.

[Psyber]

Can't see an academy making much difference. Most of the young kids being killed or seriously injured are driving well above the speed limit or under the influence of alcohol, it isnt basic driving errors causing the crashes. I think there needs to be a limit on the number of passengers a P plate driver can carry to stop them having a car full of mates and feeling the need to show off and drive stupidly.

True - no amount of expensive education is going to stop people deciding it doesn't apply to them.
The only thing that will work is to not let the immature drive - or have access to alcohol. The problem is one person can be mature emotionally at 16 and another not so at 66...

I think Piaget said, however, that adolescence lasts until 25, so, statistically, starting nearer that age may help..

[Dog_ger]

I think Piaget said, however, that adolescence lasts until 25, so, statistically, starting nearer that age that may help..

Take a strong government to put that into law though.

[oldfella]

At the end of the day it is a privilege NOT a right to drive a vehicle in South Australia --- Earning of that privilege is to be in control of the vehicle and drive in a responsible legal manner ----- Whilst acknowledging many victims are just that - innocent victims -- many fatalities are the result of a driver making poor decisions or lack of acceptance of responsibility.

Believe me its not just the kids (multi suspended drivers still getting booked for driving without license -- unlicensed vehicles - un-roadworthy vehicle) --- Whilst the more training possible the better in anything in life lets not keep on making excuses for willful behavior.

What I would do?
1. I would not change present first offense penalties however second offense (driving unlicensed - DUI - etc etc) do not pass go - go to jail - get the right message out there.

2. Lets get more Police on the road (bike squad increase not decrease) - everybody says this but as a community we need to accept the costs involved.

[Strawb]

At the end of the day it is a privilege NOT a right to drive a vehicle in South Australia --- Earning of that privilege is to be in control of the vehicle and drive in a responsible legal manner ----- Whilst acknowledging many victims are just that - innocent victims -- many fatalities are the result of a driver making poor decisions or lack of acceptance of responsibility.

Believe me its not just the kids (multi suspended drivers still getting booked for driving without license -- unlicensed vehicles - un-roadworthy vehicle) --- Whilst the more training possible the better in anything in life lets not keep on making excuses for willful behavior.

What I would do?
1. I would not change present first offense penalties however second offense (driving unlicensed - DUI - etc etc) do not pass go - go to jail - get the right message out there.

2. Lets get more Police on the road (bike squad increase not decrease) - everybody says this but as a community we need to accept the costs involved.

I agree with you 100% speed camera give the govement money that is all they do it is time to make the roads safier.

[7-Dog]

At the SA Country Championships, we were all made to watch some graphic footage.
The stats that were produced, showed nearlly twice as many accidents occured in the Country than in the city.

Roads are the 1st thing. For anyone familiar with the roads I travel on from Port Augusta to Adelaide, they are in poor condition, especially between Crystal Brook & Port Wakefield. However, more and more over taking lanes are being installed and I would love to see the stats for Wakefield to Adelaide (Double Lanes).

I believe there should be MORE road rules.
1. You can't TOW a vehicle, unless that vehicle has enough power to Tow the vehicle at 110km/h.
2. If drugs are 0% in your system, then Alcohol should be exactly the same.
3. Either, P Platers can only drive @ 80km/h or L plate drivers can drive @ 110km/h
4. L & P Plate drivers HAVE to drive a vehicle that is 4 Cyl. Has ABS, Dual & Side Airbags.
5. 25 years old to drive a V6, or Turbo 4 or higher.
6. Driver Training Schools should not have new cars, they should be old cars, like what L or P platers will likely drive.

[tipper]

At the SA Country Championships, we were all made to watch some graphic footage.
The stats that were produced, showed nearlly twice as many accidents occured in the Country than in the city.

Roads are the 1st thing. For anyone familiar with the roads I travel on from Port Augusta to Adelaide, they are in poor condition, especially between Crystal Brook & Port Wakefield. However, more and more over taking lanes are being installed and I would love to see the stats for Wakefield to Adelaide (Double Lanes).

I believe there should be MORE road rules.
1. You can't TOW a vehicle, unless that vehicle has enough power to Tow the vehicle at 110km/h.
2. If drugs are 0% in your system, then Alcohol should be exactly the same.
3. Either, P Platers can only drive @ 80km/h or L plate drivers can drive @ 110km/h
4. L & P Plate drivers HAVE to drive a vehicle that is 4 Cyl. Has ABS, Dual & Side Airbags.
5. 25 years old to drive a V6, or Turbo 4 or higher.
6. Driver Training Schools should not have new cars, they should be old cars, like what L or P platers will likely drive.

As of the 4th september this year learner drivers can do 100kph, just like p plate drivers have always been able to do. technically they could previously, but only in an instructors car fitted with dual controls. now they can do it in any vehicle they so choose.

and on point 5, its not the cars that are killing people, it is the drivers. a standard 4cyl vehicle will still quite easily be able to exceed the 100k speed limit, it will just take longer to get there. and quite possibly be fitted with less safety features than that six cylinder family car that they could be driving.

I am also not sure showing graphic images, whether on tv or in person, is the way to go. i think most teenagers would view it, and believe that it still couldnt happen to them cos they are a "good driver" or whatever, and that whatever went wrong to the victims in the images was cos they werent a good driver. it is the whole invincible teenager thing. "it wont happen to me so i can drive how i like" meanwhile this attitude also exists in more people than just the young.

I honestly believe that driver education needs to be increased, meaning teaching people how to drive, not how to reverse park and that restrictions on novice drivers should actually be reduced. increase the penalties for those that do the wrong thing, but by tightening the restrictions for people that havent done anything wrong yet it will only encourage more people to drive unlicenced and against the rules. how is that helping??

Young drivers have always been over represented in crash statistics primarily because they are inexperienced. of course some will drive like idiots, but idiots are not limited to a specific age group. imagine the outcry if someone suggested that older drivers should be subject to more restrictions because of the number of them that mistake the accelerator for the brake and crash into shopping centres!!

i think i read on the weekend that p plate drivers make up over 10 percent of the fatalities on our roads, which is greater than the percentage of p plate drivers on the roads (happy to be corrected on the number, i am just going on memory and cant find the story, sorry), which still means that the "rest of us" make up over 80 percent of the rest! if we could get the mature, responsible, safe, etc drivers to stop crashing too it would make a much bigger impact on the road toll. if we have half the number of p platers die next year it still only changes the overall road toll by a few percent and would still end up over 100 deaths.

the focus should be on alll drivers, not just the young.

[A Mum]

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Z2mf8DtWWd8
TAC XMAS 2010 advert
this is pretty full on!

OMG

Only just got to watch this - if that doesn't get the point across nothing will.

[whufc]

Unfortunatly hoon driving claimed the lives of two teenagers in an accident on Philip Highway, Elizabeth yesterday.

[Ian]

I agree with some but not all of this

1. You can't TOW a vehicle, unless that vehicle has enough power to Tow the vehicle at 110km/h.
I would go one step further, you can't tow a trailer until you have passed a driving test towing one. How many people can tow a trailer or caravan forwards but not reverse it?

2. If drugs are 0% in your system, then Alcohol should be exactly the same.
I guess some would say drugs are "0" because they are illegal to take at all anyway

3. Either, P Platers can only drive @ 80km/h or L plate drivers can drive @ 110km/h
When I got my P's (only a matter of weeks after they were first introduced) the speed limit for P platers was 80kmh, with the hold ups of other vehicles including heavy vehicles on the highway it created more dangers than it fixed. Also when P's were introduced you lost your licence if you accumalated 3 demerit points....yes 1 speeding offence and it was gone for 3 months

4. L & P Plate drivers HAVE to drive a vehicle that is 4 Cyl. Has ABS, Dual & Side Airbags.
I don't have a vehicle with side airbags and certainly couldn't afford to buy one for my 16yo son to drive

5. 25 years old to drive a V6, or Turbo 4 or higher.
So a straight 6 would be ok then? I think the current power to weight rules are fine, there are non turbo 4's more powerful than some 6's

6. Driver Training Schools should not have new cars, they should be old cars, like what L or P platers will likely drive.
It would not make good business sense to keep an old car on the road. My son's driving instructor uses a late model Falcon so his students are accustomed to driving larger vehicles making it easier to step into mum and dads family car as well as driving a small car

[fish]

I agree with you 100% speed camera give the govement money that is all they do it is time to make the roads safer.

This statement is just ridiculous - speed limits and their enforcement contribute hugely to the roads being safer.

[tipper]

I agree with you 100% speed camera give the govement money that is all they do it is time to make the roads safer.

This statement is just ridiculous - speed limits and their enforcement contribute hugely to the roads being safer.

No, it isnt ridiculous. speed cameras do just raise revenue. if the speed limits were enforced by a visible police presence then i agree that it contributes to safer roads, however too often the cameras are hidden in areas where accidents seldom happen. i dont see too many of them located on country roads where the majority of fatalities occur.

[Strawb]

I agree with you 100% speed camera give the govement money that is all they do it is time to make the roads safer.

This statement is just ridiculous - speed limits and their enforcement contribute hugely to the roads being safer.

No, it isnt ridiculous. speed cameras do just raise revenue. if the speed limits were enforced by a visible police presence then i agree that it contributes to safer roads, however too often the cameras are hidden in areas where accidents seldom happen. i dont see too many of them located on country roads where the majority of fatalities occur.

Fish best example is how many people will gain all 12 demerit points and still drive? Too Many will some people will just pay the fines and still drive without a license. Fining and gaining demerit points will not stop this that is really all speed cameras do is take a picture and have someone fined.

[Psyber]

I agree with some but not all of this.

4. L & P Plate drivers HAVE to drive a vehicle that is 4 Cyl. Has ABS, Dual & Side Airbags.
I don't have a vehicle with side airbags and certainly couldn't afford to buy one for my 16yo son to drive

5. 25 years old to drive a V6, or Turbo 4 or higher.
So a straight 6 would be ok then? I think the current power to weight rules are fine, there are non turbo 4's more powerful than some 6's

Comment on these two:
4. Neither of my 15 year old cars have side air bags and I'd resent having to part with two perfectly functional cars and a lot of money to update to something not as good.
5. Yes, and my 968 Club Sport was a non-turbo charged 3 litre 4 cylinder, and put out 270 bhp - about 200Kw or so after a little chip-tuning. [ 240 bhp was the standard output.]

[Sturtman]

I agree with some but not all of this.

4. L & P Plate drivers HAVE to drive a vehicle that is 4 Cyl. Has ABS, Dual & Side Airbags. I don't have a vehicle with side airbags and certainly couldn't afford to buy one for my 16yo son to drive

5. 25 years old to drive a V6, or Turbo 4 or higher.
So a straight 6 would be ok then? I think the current power to weight rules are fine, there are non turbo 4's more powerful than some 6's

Comment on these two:
4. Neither of my 15 year old cars have side air bags and I'd resent having to part with two perfectly functional cars and a lot of money to update to something not as good.
5. Yes, and my 968 Club Sport was a non-turbo charged 3 litre 4 cylinder, and put out 270 bhp - about 200Kw or so after a little chip-tuning. [ 240 bhp was the standard output.]

Airbags do little to protect you when travelling at the speeds and hitting imovable objects like in the most recent tragedys involving young drivers